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Height and cognitive achievement among Indian children

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  • Spears, Dean

Abstract

Taller children perform better on average on tests of cognitive achievement, in part because of differences in early-life health and net nutrition. Recent research documenting this height–achievement slope has primarily focused on rich countries. Using the India Human Development Survey, a representative sample of 40,000 households which matches anthropometric data to learning tests, this paper documents a height–achievement slope among Indian children. The height–achievement slope in India is more than twice as steep as in the U.S. An earlier survey interviewed some IHDS children's households eleven years before. Including matched early-life control variables reduces the apparent effect of height, but does not eliminate it; water, sanitation, and hygiene may be particularly important for children's outcomes. Being one standard deviation taller is associated with being 5 percentage points more likely to be able to write, a slope that falls only to 3.4 percentage points controlling for a long list of contemporary and early-life conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Spears, Dean, 2012. "Height and cognitive achievement among Indian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 210-219.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:10:y:2012:i:2:p:210-219
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2011.08.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Maitreesh Ghatak & Jeanne Lafortune, 2013. "Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 33-72, May.
    2. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(3), pages 499-532, June.
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    6. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and consequences of early-life health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 65-85, March.
    7. Doyle, Orla & Harmon, Colm P. & Heckman, James J. & Tremblay, Richard E., 2009. "Investing in early human development: Timing and economic efficiency," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, March.
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    9. Stephan Klasen, 2008. "Poverty, undernutrition, and child mortality: Some inter-regional puzzles and their implicationsfor research and policy," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(1), pages 89-115, March.
    10. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Mahal, Ajay & Karan, Anup K., 2008. "Adequacy of dietary intakes and poverty in India: Trends in the 1990s," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 57-74, March.
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